After Bin Laden

The death of Osama Bin Laden brings a lot of questions as to what the U.S. foreign and military policy should be in the wake of taking out the leader and financier of the al-Qaeda terrorist network. While the al-Qaeda terrorist network does have a chain in command, one can hope that with his death so went the financing. If that is the case, then the nearly War on Terror can be come to a close, or at the most redefined.

For starters, the U.S. must get out of Libya. Launching a military campaign against Libya was a failed mission from day one. Muammar Gaddafi was not a threat to the United States, and the Obama Administration knows this. Even more important than that, Obama failed to gain approval from Congress before launching a military campaign. Obama's hypocrisy on launching a military campaign against Libya has been widely reported and contradicts Obama's 2007 harsh criticism on former President George W. Bush's rush to war in Iraq, and the surge.

In addition, the United States has created a complete blunder in allowing NATO to dictate the military strategy in Libya. If the United States does not want to lead and has no strategy to win, then they should not be there in the first place. Mr. President, withdraw all U.S. military forces related to the military conflict in Libya now.

The second realignment of U.S. military forces abroad must consist of removing all U.S. forces from Iraq. By now, Iraq is stable and stand on its own two feet. The U.S. military should not be used for nation building and we Saddam Hussein is long gone. Mr. President, please bring our troops home from Iraq. The mission is done.

The final realignment deals with the nearly ten year-old conflict in Afghanistan. After the September 11, 2011 attacks, the right thing to do was to rid the world of Osama bin Laden, al-Qaeda and the Taliban who was given bin Laden cover. This month, the world received news that the supreme leader and architect of the al-Qaeda terrorist network was killed. This milestone should be the nail in the coffin in wides-spread terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda. Let's hope the funds have dried up with bin Laden's death.

While there are still remnants of al-Qaeda that still exist, the U.S. foreign and military strategy in Afghanistan must be limited to monitoring to ensure that the al-Qaeda does not rebuild. Such monitoring can done via satellite and drones. What can be done is to withdraw all ground forces from Afghanistan. Further military operations can be done and should be done via naval aircraft carrier and battleship groups in the Persian Gulf and Arabian Sea.

Continuing military operations to current levels is no longer necessary, and continues to weaken the U.S. military. Many troops have been deployed to the Middle East many times, and for lengthy periods. As long as Obama, Defense Secretary Gates and General Petraeus allow three conflicts to occur at once and failing to define the mission at hand, there is no sense in allowing military operations to continue.

CATO Institute has recently launched two videos, of which echo a more sensible approach to U.S. Middle East strategy:





American forces should be commended for what they have accomplished, even dealing with vague objectives at times. Thank God for the U.S. military! For they heed the call when needed, and always complete the mission.

So here's the thing...

I'm all for offshore drilling, on shore drilling, ANWR drilling and clean coal manufacturing. I'm for natural gas, propane gas, oil, solar, wind, nuclear, geothermal, etc. Heck, I heard an interesting proposal for capturing the methane animals and humans release into the atmosphere via flatulence and turning THAT into energy. I'm also a conservationist, I want to see the earth repaired where we scar it and I want to ensure that we have places all over the globe where people can commune and live amongst nature. I'm NOT an Earth killer as the looney left generally labels us "Conservative TEA Baggers".

I felt the need to state the above because I do have a problem with the gulf oil spill and the subsequent "clean up attempts". The problem is this, if you're going to try something new, I understand accidents happen but shouldn't you have worked out the kinks? Shouldn't you be prepared for...I don't know a MASSIVE oil leak that spews thousands of barrels of oil a day into the waters? I mean it seems to me like these oil companies (I'm going to pick on BP through the rest of this) should have worked witht he Federal Government to develop a plan in the event that could stop this kind of thing. For instance, let's say a terrorist decided to puncture that tube and thereby cause a disaster, it's the Federal Government's responsibility to be prepared for that (Common Defense of the nation). It's also BP's responsibility to ensure the safety and security of the rig. So, folks can we stop pointing fingers now and get this damn thing cleaned up before it destroys us?

In the future, these plans need to be worked out BEFORE you sink a hole in the ground. I KNOW we need the oil but I can deal with not having it while you make sure it's safe to do it and make sure that the delivery system is secured. Hey, we could put many, many Americans back to work by employing them in the service of securing and monitoring these pipes. Here is a link to the full story from FOX News.